Wednesday, October 23, 2013

A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku - Day #23 GOING NOWHERE ON HALLOWE'EN? THEN WHY NOT BROWSE THE "NOWHERE ARCHIVE" ON ROKU ??!!!!

Welcome, once again, Boils & Ghouls !!

There's now just eight days to go in the Countdown To Hallowe'en 2013... but that still leaves time for eight more posts 'til my month-long blogathon, "A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku", comes to an end on October 31st. If you missed the previous instalments, earlier this month, the series began with details of a Hallowe'en ScreamSaver, complete with it's own spooky soundtrack, followed by a Roku channel dedicated to Vintage Horror Classics, then some Hallowe'en "How-To" videos, a Roku channel for fans of the paranormal and then another for devotees of independent horror. After that came a channel dedicated to the open discussion of UFO's and UFO-related activities plus a further selection of Cult Films, Sci-Fi Classics & Vintage Horror. Since then, we've provided details of a Roku channel brimming with creepy cocktail suggestions, another with more classic Hallowe'en movie choices, and then details of a Roku channel that mixes paranormal reality tv shows with powerful documentaries, mysteries, conspiracy theories, UFO's and plenty else besides. The next two instalments saw yet more Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy movies on one channel plus some Hallowe'en / Horror-themed music, courtesy of a Roku radio channel, on another. We then brought you details of a live-streaming horror channel, to add yet another dynamic to the Hallowe'en entertainment on your Roku players plus some close encounters of the third kind, courtesy of a Roku channel dedicated to the subject of aliens and UFO's. Add to that two more Roku channels bringing fresh selections of Sci-Fi & Horror Movies plus more "Halloween Horror" films, then another channel with a bunch of J-Horror, K-Horror and every other kind of Asian horror that you can imagine. Then throw in yet another helping of vintage horror movies, together with a whole host of Hallowe'en recipes to add to the macabre menu for your spooktacular soirée. Add to that a side-order of indie underground horror seasoned with a dash of the weird & paranormal, plus some more hard-to-find horror movies & TV series, and then throw in a little zombie action, some slashers & killers, as well as a few more "Films of the Undead" and you're set for the best Hallowe'en ever, with all that we've covered in the spooktacular series of posts that make up this month-long blogathon !!

Meanwhile, here we are with only eight days to go until October 31st and, we're stillcontinuing to bring horror to the masses by streaming it to their Roku players. So... what's next on the agenda ?!! Well, given that Hallowe'en has been around for a long time now, there's literally a whole archive of material from years gone by that is relevant to this particular celebration. This might take the form of vintage horror movies, Hallowe'en TV Specials or animations from classic series, perhaps even some community media revolving around Hallowe'en theatre, or parades, costume parties, yard haunts, or similar events. You may also find a short film, audiobook, radio play, or other spoken word performance, or possibly a live music recording from one of your favourite artists?! Suffice to say that, if you're partial to watching (or listening to) archived recordings from years gone by, then you'll definitely want to add this to your viewing selection, as we count down the days to Hallowe'en !!

Perhaps surprisingly, you won't come across this archive recording-based Roku channel under any of the categories from the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store. The reason for that being... the 'Nowhere Archive' channel is another of those that can (currently) only be added as a PRIVATE CHANNEL, through your online Roku Account. Generally speaking, the 'Nowhere Archive' channel provides a client platform, that is easily accessible via Roku, to every recording found on the Archive.org website, all of which can be streamed completely free-of-charge on the Roku media player (as well as online, via the website). With genres (i.e. categories) ranging from things like Movies or TV, to Community Media, Animation or Short Films, Ephemeral Films, Music or Spoken Word, plus (of course) the FULL Moving Image Archive, you'll never be hard-pushed to find something that suits your taste. As such, you can expect to find anything from Robert Wiene's "The Hands Of Orlac" (1924), starring Conrad Veidt, to George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four", adapted as a television play by Nigel Kneale for BBC's Sunday-Night Theatre (1954), directed by Rudolph Cartier & starring Peter Cushing, or else a LIVE RECORDING of, say, The Grateful Dead from 1971 or (maybe) Blues Traveler from 1994 or, believe it or not, just 12 days ago... on 11th October 2013 !! Perhaps best of all, though, is that all of the content on 'Nowhere Archive' is COMPLETELY FREE TO STREAM !!

Obviously, having multiple genres to choose from in the main menu of the 'Nowhere Archive' channel means that not all of the included content is relevant to this post. However, the inclusion of a 'Search' function within each of the categories means that you can easily narrow the results to suit your needs. So, sticking to the general theme (as used for previous entries in this series), I decided to enter the word "Halloween" as a search term in order to obtain a set of results specific to our requirements for each of the different categories available in the main menu of the 'Nowhere Archive' channel. By doing so, the content available under each heading was as follows:-

So, as you can see, there is plenty of variety on offer within the 'Nowhere Archive' channel on Roku. You could of course try searching using another term (e.g. 'Horror' or 'Edgar Allen Poe') to achieve a completely different set of results, that could include plenty of ghost stories and such like. Then again, you can always just go straight to any of the categories listed and explore the content available there without entering a search term at all. Some of the categories (e.g. movies) feature many sub-menus which are crammed with content. For example, there are over one hundred "SciFi / Horror" films for you to choose from, many of which I have recommended previously, plus several more besides. Other principle genres from the "Movies" sub-menu are 'Film Noir', 'Comedy' and 'Silent' films, which also have a lot to offer content-wise. Meanwhile, if you'd like to discover more about the 'Nowhere Archive' channel, you can do so via the Official Website FOUND HERE. Alternatively, those wishing to connect with Chris [aka 'NowhereMan'], developer of the 'Nowhere Archive' channel for Roku, can do so via his Twitter Feed: @nowhereman or else, you can use the contact information on his website.

Anyone wishing to add this channel to the Hallowe'en-themed entertainment on their Roku player(s) will, as I mentioned previously, have to do so by LOGGING-IN to their Roku Account online, scrolling down to the 'Manage Account' section, and using the "Add a Private Channel" option. That is because THIS IS A ROKU PRIVATE CHANNEL and, therefore, it is (currently) the only way that you can add the 'Nowhere Archive' channel to a Roku player. Anyway, all you must do to achieve this, is type the access code under "Add a Private Channel" and click on the blue 'Add Channel' button:-

ACCESS CODE:- NMJS5

I should perhaps point out that, since the 'Nowhere Archive' channel does not yet feature in any of the Roku Channel Stores, there is "no channel store description" on the Official Roku Website and, consequently, no average rating either. Having said that, the excellent selection of content aloneshould bereason enough for you to give the 'Nowhere Archive' channel a try, never mind the fact that ALL CONTENT IS FREE-TO-WATCH too !!

Still, if this particular Hallowe'en / Horror themed Roku channel was not to your liking then FEAR NOT because there will be another one featured in tomorrow's post, continuing the month-long blogathon that is: "A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku"which will bring you more devilish delights EACH AND EVERY DAY from now UNTIL HALLOWE'EN and when you're done with this blog, don't forget to visit the other contributors to the 2013 Countdown To Hallowe'en and see what Hallowe'en treats they have in store for you between now and 31st October !!